I was trying to guess our 2019-2020 opening lineup for the 1st regular season game and it was not that obvious due to the abundance of centre players on the roster. I do believe Peters will let Lucic play on the 2nd line, at least for a bit, to see if he can keep up. If he can, it would be a really tough second line to play against. If he can't keep up (and I believe it's a more likely scenario), I think he's gonna be swapped with Frolik and moved down a line to play on the 3rd, with Bennett and Jankowski, eventually, which is not too bad of a line either. Anyway, here's my guess:

The thread was literally for people listing their opening line-up predictions, as you did; thank you. But I am curious about your logic here: Dube could hardly earn a spot on the 4th line last season. For anyone watching him play, it was clear, he was still a tweener. Chances of him earning a legit spot on the second line are dubious, at best. What makes you think his improvement over the summer would be so dramatic?

__________________"An idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking. To generalize means to think." Georg Hegel, Philosopher

The thread was literally for people listing their opening line-up predictions, as you did; thank you. But I am curious about your logic here: Dube could hardly earn a spot on the 4th line last season. For anyone watching him play, it was clear, he was still a tweener. Chances of him earning a legit spot on the second line are dubious, at best. What makes you think his improvement over the summer would be so dramatic?

cpltanta can speak for himself, but for my part "hardly earned a spot on the 4th line" is not how I would choose to characterize Dube's rookie season. He was lights-out in training camp, and earned a spot on the opening night lineup purely on merit, and then some. Getting clocked on one of his first shifts by Gudbransson notably set him back last year, but even in the several games after Game #1 Dube had a lot of very good looks.

I don't think it is "improvement over the summer" so much as it was a steady and impressive improvement from January to April after he was sent down to the AHL that has me excited for what he will do this year: he was a +1.00 pts/GP player as a 20-year-old rookie in Stockton last year scoring 39 pts in 37 GP. By way of comparison, at the same age Mikael Backlund scored 32 pts in 54 games as an AHL rookie, Andrew Mangiapane scored 41 in 66 and Micheal Ferland scored 18 in 25 as a 21-year-old rookie.

I do agree with Dube having a good shot at a roster spot (maybe not on the opening night though). But that aside, I just don't believe he has improved so much to be on the 2nd line and I was curious to hear the logic for that prediction.

__________________"An idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking. To generalize means to think." Georg Hegel, Philosopher

1. Buyout Stone
2. Sign Mangipane 2 years $1.25M
3. Trade Frolik to the Devils for a 5th (they still have room)
4. Trade Hamonic for Roslivic+2nd
5. Trade Jankowski for Virtanen
6. Sign Tkachuk $10M per x 8 years
7. Trade Gaudreau for Point (sign and trade with a matching 8 years 10M per season)

Dube was a 2nd round pick, his stock rose after the draft. Made the team out of camp as a twenty year old, struggled, sent down and dominated the AHL. Called up and looked better. Not out of the realm of possibility and certainly not dubious to suggest he could take a big step next season.

The thread was literally for people listing their opening line-up predictions, as you did; thank you. But I am curious about your logic here: Dube could hardly earn a spot on the 4th line last season. For anyone watching him play, it was clear, he was still a tweener. Chances of him earning a legit spot on the second line are dubious, at best. What makes you think his improvement over the summer would be so dramatic?

Because it's opening line-up projections, not what I think will be what sticks down the road (say middle of the year)
In the first game, you'll often see the rookies still being tested out, we may even see some more recent draft picks get a couple games before being sent back down...

Because it's opening line-up projections, not what I think will be what sticks down the road (say middle of the year)
In the first game, you'll often see the rookies still being tested out, we may even see some more recent draft picks get a couple games before being sent back down...

Thanks for the explanation. I disagree with your prediction logic then. For exhibition games - yes, 100%. Most often than not, the first regular game line up has been pretty... (what would be the proper term?) ... non-speculative. Dube would have to work really hard to get even the 4th line spot on the opening day, I predict.

__________________"An idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking. To generalize means to think." Georg Hegel, Philosopher